


C-END - ANOTHER TIME

by Leonidas1754



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, No beta reader we die like mne, Safe End Timeline, Self-Sacrifice, Unhappy Ending, Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:28:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24318091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonidas1754/pseuds/Leonidas1754
Summary: (Post-Safe End Timeline Decision Game)The locker contained only one oxygen mask, leaving C-Team to decide who lived and who died among them. But in the end, it's not much of a choice at all.
Relationships: Carlos & Tenmyouji Junpei, Kurashiki Aoi & Carlos, Kurashiki Aoi/Tenmyouji Junpei
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	C-END - ANOTHER TIME

**Author's Note:**

> So basically, this is canon divergence where in the Safe End timeline, ZTD happens anyway and Aoi participates instead of Akane. Takes place in The Monty Hall Problem segment, right after opening the correct locker.  
> Hope you... enjoy?

The three men looked upon the singular oxygen mask in stunned silence. The hiss of the fire extinguisher continued to sound behind them.

“Only one of us can survive,” Junpei murmured softly.

“Son of a bitch,” Aoi cursed, still trying to still the shaking in his hands from the fire before. “What the hell. What, does Zero want us to fight over it or something?”

Junpei shook his head. “It’s not about making us fight. It’s about forcing us to make a choice. It’s the  _ Decision _ Game, after all,” he added with a bitter laugh.

Carlos took it in hand. “But… Which of us..?”

Junpei and Aoi looked to one another. They were doing it again, communicating in a way Carlos couldn’t grasp. They were close. So very, very close. Making them choose who lived and who died, to choose themselves or the other, it was cruel. Carlos didn’t know what to say to them.

What he hadn’t expected was their response. “You,” they said in unison, looking to Carlos again.

Carlos froze in shock. “Wh… What? But what about-”

Aoi held up a hand. “I’ve been suicidal as hell for a year. Even if you gave me a mask… The survivor's guilt would kill me just as well. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, knowing you two were dead and I wasn’t.”

Junpei put his hands in his pockets, looking away. “I don’t like it. But… Between the two of us, you’ve got a lot more to live for. My family doesn’t miss me. I’ve got a friend who’ll be pretty upset, but… He’ll understand.”

Carlos looked between them incredulously. “I… I can’t, I’m not going to do this. One of you should take it.”

Sighing, Aoi shook his head. “I figured you’d say that.”

He moved faster than Carlos had ever seen, faster than anyone could have expected from someone so thin, and punched Carlos in the stomach with more force than could be expected of someone so visually malnourished. Carlos crumpled to the floor, seeing Junpei look surprised as well for a moment before chuckling.

“Damn, Aoi, that was rough.” He stepped toward Carlos’s crumpled form, picking up the mask off the floor.

Aoi shrugged and kneeled beside Carlos. Carlos could feel a hand on the back of his neck, and a pinch-

“No, Aoi…” Carlos groaned out between pained breaths.

All he got in return was a sad smile. “Take care of your sister. Please.” There was a distant misery there Carlos didn’t understand, a knowing look from Junpei he couldn’t read, and it was the last he saw before slipping into unconsciousness.

Aoi stood and stepped aside, letting Junpei place the mask on Carlos’s face, double-checking that it was secure. Then he stepped back as well. 

Aoi looked at him, frowning. “You… You could still take it, you know.”

Junpei didn’t respond at first. He just took Aoi’s wrist, gently tugging him toward the wall. They sat down together, leaning against the hard metal. “... I told you I’d stick with you,” he said softly, “I told you I wouldn’t leave you alone again. And let’s face it, I couldn't handle the survivor’s guilt much better than you. Not after everything else. Not knowing there’s someone out there that still needs him,” he said, motioning to Carlos.

Aoi felt the tears sting the corners of his eyes. “You idiot…”

Junpei pulled him close, pressing a gentle kiss to Aoi’s forehead. Aoi shifted so he was practically draped across Junpei’s lap, holding him tightly. He began to laugh, bitter and miserable and agonizing. “I don’t want to die,” Aoi muttered, “for the first time in hell knows how long, I don’t want to die.”

Junpei squeezed him tighter. “I know. I know…”

Aoi’s head felt fuzzier and fuzzier, and he could see the effects on Junpei as well. And Junpei smiled, through the fear and the sadness, because he didn’t want the last thing Aoi saw to be him with anything that could be thought of as regret. And Aoi smiled back, knowing exactly what he was doing. He simultaneously cursed Junpei for being so stupid, and was grateful for it anyways.

Carlos was awoken by the sound of an announcer.

_ “The following participants are now dead,” _ the voice sounded as Carlos slowly sat up, shaking his head.  _ “Q-Team: Q, Eric, Mira. D-Team: Phi. C-Team: Junpei, Aoi.” _

A chill bolted through Carlos, and he felt sick. His head slowly turned to find Junpei and Aoi slumped against the wall.

_ “Eye, Fool, Kill, Future, Fail, Fire.” _

Carlos got up slowly and walked to his two teammates. He knew what the announcer had said, but he couldn’t help but hold a hand up to each of their necks. But they were cold, unmoving, with no pulse. He felt sick. Why, why him?

But he knew why. They’d told him exactly why. But it didn’t stop it from hurting, from the guilt polluting his veins. Seeing them hold one another, together to the last… Making them pick one another had been too cruel. But they had. They chose each other, not to live, but to die. To never leave one another’s sides.

Carlos took a deep breath. They’d given him this chance, and he refused to waste it. He didn’t know how Phi had died, and he didn’t know how to get a message to Sigma and Diana, so he simply had to go and come back for them. He would, he just needed to get help.

He marched out of the room, refusing to look back, and pushed the buttons to input the passes, bolting through the door the moment he could. He kept running, to the lift, and pushed the button to send them up. A clunk made him jump, and he looked down to see his bracelet had fallen off.

It was only then that it truly, finally sunk in. He fell to his knees, the tears coming fast and hard. Aoi, he’d been quiet and snarky and humorous and so fragile, but healing, fighting, through things Carlos would now never know. And Junpei, loyal and sarcastic and pragmatic even when he hated what he himself was suggesting, his sole desire to see Aoi safely through it all.

And they were gone. They’d seen the mask and they’d chosen to give it to Carlos without another thought.

_ “Take care of your sister. Please.” _

There was so much unsaid there, in his voice and in his eyes. So much Carlos would never know from him now. So much of both Aoi and Junpei’s stories left unsaid. Carlos had wanted to get to know them better, to perhaps take some of the weight from Junpei’s shoulders, to lift Aoi higher. And he never could.

Carlos sobbed there, on his knees, overwhelmed by the despair. But after a time, he stood. He stood, and he walked slowly to the communication device there on the table, presumably left there by Zero. There was a voice sounding from it, anxious and calling out for an answer.

Carlos picked it up and pressed the button.

“I’m here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Q-Team and Phi X-passes are canon, but I decided to change Junpei's and Akane's, since Junpei's was HATE and wouldn't really fit this timeline, and Akane's was Hex, referencing her Nonary Game number, also not really applicable to Aoi. FAIL is Junpei's, in reference to the fact that he failed to save Akane in the Nonary game, and Aoi's is FIRE, for likely obvious reasons, mostly in regards to his trauma. Also the friend Junpei is referencing is Seven, who will absolutely be upset to find out what happened.


End file.
